Mid-Week Open Thread: You Ask, Others Answer

We just flew home from Colombia and are happy to be home. Over our ten day trip, we sold 47 items for a gross profit of $2000. Not bad for traveling to another country. We told buyers we wouldn’t ship till Monday, so we have plenty of time to gather the items and package them. Calmly and sanely. Over the past several years, we’ve developed a finely tuned system for selling while traveling and couldn’t be happier.

Since we’re playing catch up this week, we won’t another podcast till Sunday. But let’s use this time to discuss anything causing issues in your store.

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Be civil. People have different ways of doing the same thing. If we disagree, no big deal.

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Comments

Welcome home Jay & Ryanne. Will you share some pics from your time in Columbia? Also, was just thinking that it would be fun to have a video of a "Day In The Life of Scavenger Life." Don't you think? I like what you posted on the other thread when you came home and were sitting by the wood burning stove..sounds so warm and cozy.

Making videos are always something we love to do, but they take time. Ill add this to the list we want to make. Although "A Day in the life of Scavenger Life" might just be us sitting on the couch, typing on our computers for 6-8 hours. This would be the unglamorous version.

I wouldn't worry about that freak murder you linked to. That's like not wanting to drive in a car because someone was killed in a car accident. I've had only good experiences with CL, buying and selling amazing deals with regular people like us.

My experience with Craigslist has been good so far but I make sure I follow some simple rules:– Meet in a public place – the library or hotel lobby. In our library there is a sheriff on duty and hotels usually have cameras.– Meet during the day.– Not to buy or sell anything for a lot of cash. I would not consider buying or selling a vehicle on CL.

I wonder if if the kind of stuff people buy and sell that increases the chances of robbery. Motorcycles, expensive electronics, game centers, etc. We are usually just buying and selling furniture, rugs….the unglamorous stuff.

A few years ago I bought cell phones from people on Craigslist and sold them on eBay. Great profits, but there were a few incidents in my town of people getting robbed when they met up to buy phones/tablets. I stopped at that point, but I'd like to get back into the phone flipping at some point if I can develop a more safe way to consistently buy them from people.

I agree that large dollar items like iPhones are a target for trouble on Craigslist. I've never felt uncomfortable buying or selling normal household stuff on there.

I just read on the news that quite a few police stations are calling themselves "safe zones" or something like that. Allowing Craigslists buyers and sellers to meet up in the lobby of the police station as a safe place to conduct that kind of business. I know there is one here in Chicago. So if you're selling a car/motorcycle, etc. That might be a way to do it. We've sold several cars and it's been fine. There is no place where risk does not exist. There is risk in everything we do. The likelihood of you dying is like 1000 greater just by getting into your car.

It might where you live as to likelihood of danger when buying on CL. I buy all the time and never have trouble (except for the lady who had a Bose Wave radio in a paper bag that broke open when walking across the parking lot to meet me, it was destroyed ). CL is fun for me, yesterday I met a lady to look at a bread machine, when she got out of the car she just handed it to me and said I could have it.

I have a question about USPS delivery times. Many of the items I sell are 13 oz or less so I use First Class Mail. I have recently received 2 complaints about delivery time so I started watching my sold items and noticed my First Class items are taking much longer than usual to arrive to their destination. On some, the tracking does not update for days and when it does, it shows my item didn't arrive to the sort facility until 3 or 4 days after it was picked up. I had one package that shows it was accepted to the sort facility 5 DAYS after it was picked up! I've tried to talking to someone at the post office but they seemed kind of clueless. I'm getting a little worried and am wondering what I should do. I was thinking of adding the option for Priority Mail (although it costs twice as much for light packages) and saying something on my listings. There has to have been some kind of change for this to all of sudden start happening. I did see an article from my local news about a change that would POSSIBLY affect delivery by 1 day… but not 4 or 5!! Yikes! Any advice?…. Carla

The USPS is not my favorite place. I've had three items totally lost or delayed for months in a nine month period. I'm still waiting on a package that's been lost for a month. These were personal items, not ebay, thankfully! Wish i had an answer. Good luck!

I wonder if recent weather issues are causing delays of first class mail packages? I too just in the past week had a first class package that hasn't arrived (mailed on February 5th. Called USPS and they said to wait 10 business days. It was a low cost item so I'll probably just refund the customer if it doesn't arrive by Monday. I've never had a package lost before. I'm thinking Priority is the way I'll go in the future.

I shipped a $100 pair of lined drapes Parcel Post/or whatever they call it now. It took four days for tracking to show up, although it did at least show it had been received at my PO. I am sure Ebay will remove any poor FB or ratins as long as tracking shows that your PO received it within your shipping parameters. And I would never reimburse the customer. I would file an insurance claim them USPS to make them deal with it. But it will probably show up.

I've had 3 packages lost out of about 1300 transactions for the year. 2 Priority & 1 international. Insurance claims paid for the 2 US packages. Ebay refused to remove the defects for item not received for lost packages. The international, all they pushed was Global Shipping which I do not use. Said it was my responsibility. Thankfully, no negative FB from these but still defects nevertheless.

i ordered a small fabric item before we left for Colombia and it just got here yesterday via First Class. that's over 12 days from CA to VA. so i think it's a system wide thing. probably due to weather. though i did order something before we got home that came via First Class and it only took 3 days. so maybe things are clearing up? hoping so, since i'm about to ship 50 things!

As others have said, check the price of Priority. Sometimes it's almost the same price or just a little bit more.

We love USPS. It really is an amazing system of delivery that this country has created for such a small amount of money. I'm surprised that it can keep functioning as well as it has while Congress keeps tightening the noose. Just imagine if you had to ship everything with FedEx or UPS. We'd be complaining about a much different set of issues then.

I now have a Priority Mail package that is missing. They never scanned it at pick up and I have about 5, the others were scanned. But mine's going to the east coast. I called my local usps and he said to please be patient as many flights have been cancelled, etc. He said to give it a few more days. It was picked up on Monday. So all are being affected..not just first class.

Anon, yes, that is exactly what happened in my town but according to the report, it should have only affected First Class packages by one day. I spoke to another employee at the PO today and she brought up the weather issue as well but also kind of gave me the impression that there was some slacking going on. Whatever the issue is, I hope it clears up soon….. Carla

Are they being shipped on the east coast? Snow storms have created a nightmare and I'm sure any mail traveling thru would be slow. I use first class all the time and their usually fast for me. U can charge for priority and just get padded envelopes they provide. Then you know its always the same price. Just my thoughts.

I'm in the Southwest/Gulf Coast area so no bad weather here to have caused a delay. I think something changed because this started happening at the beginning of the year. Yeah, I'm leaning towards Priority….. Carla

What the heck….i too have a customer in the mid west that has not gotten their first class package( a motorcycle decal)…..it was a 5.00 transaction…..i didnt get tracking as i was trying to keep my costs low…. errr might have to refund her money….. dang snow

I would keep track of what you dropped off at each post office for a a few weeks and see if one is moving slower than the other. I've noticed the same thing in my area. I usually use the same PO, but occasionally use others and sometimes there are weird delays.

Golden State, do you print your shipping labels with eBay? You get free tracking with first class.

Iris I found that I needed to get to at least 100 listings before getting consistent weekly sales–those with far more items listed usually sell things every day, Jay always pegs the ideal number at 500 items to stabilize sales. btw, even with over 150 items, it has been very slow for me too lately, although I have been getting lot's of offers, almost all have been low-ballers.

I don't know about God smiling on us, but she probably appreciates math like the rest of us. If we have 3700 items listed, then selling 47 items in 10 days makes sense. It's a numbers game.

I'm always amazed that some sellers here might only have 500 items and sell almost as much as we do, so it's not a clear correlation. There is also a matter of popularity of item and the price you ask. What is clear is that you need to always be listing.

You must be new around here. We List it and Forget it. We list all items "good till cancelled" so we never think twice about the item once it's been listed. Because we have Store Subscription, our listing fees are minimal. Always pushing forward.

That explains a LOT because that 30 cents adds up! Doesn't the Good 'Til Cancelled affect the search engines? I had heard they favor new listings and relistings. Another eBay seller I follow sets their fixed price listings for 30 days. I guess they make enough sales to cover rellisting fees!

Can we say it also depends on your items? I am fairly new so I have limit. I have yet to make it to more than 100 items but I average between 7 – 10 sales a week. My top 3 categories are Computers, Cameras & Electronics. I've recently started sneaking in vintage items and have had good luck. We learn as we go. When I can't list anymore or when I don't have anything to ship, I read, research & learn as much as I can. I want to be ready for my limit upgrade!

So smart, Anonymous. Thats how to get ahead. Just keep listing and keep learning. Iris, can you see the "Search This Blog" box on the upper right column of this blog? Or you might want to spend an afternoon at the public library and use their computer for a while and enjoy browsing.

Thanks +LindaShields , I know how to use public computers, that's how I print my packing slips. I just figured Blogger, being otherwise mobile friendly, would let you search the mobile version of the blog. The "Search this Blog" isn't visible to me, only the drop down menu with Home, About, Manifesto, etc. Thanks though.

Hey Iris, Blogger unfortunately doesnt give us much creative input on the Mobile version. I looked to see if I could add a search field to no avail.

What you can do is scroll down to the bottom of the page on your phone and click "View Desktop Version". Then you'll see the entire site. It's unwieldy, but the Search function is there.

The biggest issue is how to help people discover subject matter in our old episodes. Havent really solved that issue yet. As we get close to 200 episodes and multiple videos, there's a lot to get through. Good news is that we often talk about many of the same issues each week. We're like Muzac.

Has anyone had this happen??, I have a customer who bought a fairly expensive Item $300 , they opened a dispute, not through Ebay, but directly through PayPal, saying Item was not as described and has something broken on it, mind you this is a very Rare LLadro and was in a perfect condition.. The problem is they seem to have bypassed Ebay Returns and gone directly to PayPal to request a refund. Which has put a Hold on the Funds.. So the money has been deducted from my account…not really sure how to handle this one.. I responded in PayPal disputes, that the request for refund was denied, and they need to provide proof the item was damaged , or file for Return through Ebay, and that I would only issue a refund if the merchandise was returned … I don't like the fact that PayPal has removed the funds from my account.. How can someone just say Item was not what they wanted and get their money back without returning it..

call paypal, see what they say. sometimes they'll just close it in your favor or at least re-assure you that they buyer must either return it or provide proof of damage in order to get their refund. paypal is just holding your money, the buyer didn't actually get their money back yet. i agree, it stinks to have that much money held.

I think some buyers do this because they know eBay won't judge in their favor. Remember that Paypal is a separate company so it makes sense they have the power to hold funds. But as you showed in your story, Paypal was logical and had your back. It's just another party of doing business. We'd had some buyers try credit card chargebacks too, but eBay/Paypal has always had our back as long as we showed successful delivery.

eBay/Paypal know that the buyer should return the item for a refund if they are unhappy. If the buyer doesnt understand this solution, the buyer is weird.

Some buyers will also open PayPal cases because they don't know how to start an eBay return, or don't even realize that there are two completely separate processes available to get a refund. And then they have to say that it's "not as described" or something like that, because you can't do a no-fault return through PayPal. So I try to start with the assumption that the customer isn't a scammer, just a clueless person trying to navigate eBay and Paypal's overly complex systems. If they do turn out to be a scammer or unreasonable, then at least the person reviewing the case will be able to see that I tried.

I've had this happen with a relatively inexpensive item. Not a word from the buyer through ebay but they opened a case in paypal. This happened to be a piece from a espresso machine that I had in my possession and had tested the replacement part on so I was sure beyond a shadow of doubt that the buyer was either looking for free or had ordered it wrong. I replied to the case and paypal found in the buyers favor. I did state in my paypal reply that I would refund only if item was returned. Buyer never returned and I didn't lose any money. But it is always suspicious when a buyer bypasses ebay and tries to get a refund straight from paypal. And when they refuse to send pictures. That is a red flag. I can't understand when ebay or pay refunds for an item when the buyer refuses to document the damage. Heck, walmart won't give a refund if you don't return an item. And I'm not quite as big as walmart!

I just heard an old podcast where you were talking about selling a lot of perfume and playing cards, but as the conversation went on I started thinking you were talking about sports cards instead. Then it became very funny to me how you were talking about them as if it was a foreign concept that people buy and sell certain cards. And then you called them swap cards. That was the first time I had ever heard them called that. Some people may call them trading cards but most of the time when people are buying them they just put in the player or team name and search cards.. So were you actually talking about sports cards or actual playing cards? I would have asked this on that podcast but I did not know if you read comments on old podcasts.

Wow, strange. Now I'm going to look for interesting pictures on cards. Although who's buying them? The Aussie swappers as I just dubbed them only want single cards. So I guess I'd be selling them to another seller who then sells them individually. I recall selling some game cards individually a long time ago and it never felt worth it to list them that way. U make chump change.

America….where waste is a way of life….man that can not be more true…a few days ago i scored a cool find at a flea market…. for 5.00 bucks i picked up a 1970s sony corporation radio clock….it looks so retro i swear i can sell it for 150+ dollars though 2 sold recently for 60….the one i found appears in pristine condition compared to the other 2…..when i walked by the booth it caught my eye and like a magnet it drew me close and i looked around and said why isnt anyone looking at this thing….the seller was not sure if it worked….she said there is an outlet by the bathrooms….i took it and it dint turn on….i said…well itll be a display piece….then i took it home plugged it in just in case….it started right up….the nightlight on the clock has a gentle glow and its loud….i nearly left it but patted myself on the back that i did not take it back….

Unfortunately Australians are more commonly living disposable lifestyles also. My father was moving house over Christmas and was throwing heaps of things away. I convinced him to sell or giveaway many items on the local Facebook buy swap sell page. But it wasn't giving fast enough results for him. When he loaded a huge removalist box filled with books onto his trailer to take to the dump I nearly cried! I rescued the box and took it to our local goodwill. They didn't even look at it, they were unable to accept any more book donations due to lack of space! I tried to give them away on Facebook, no takers! These were texts, specialist hobby books and self help titles. I Have been trying to declutter, so more books is the last thing I need, but I gave in and opened the box and listed them. That night I sold one for $35 (Leatherwork projects). eBay may save the world yet!

That's an interesting story. I feel Australians might be closer to the American way of life than the European way of life. Maybe because we are both still relatively new countries with a lot of natural resources.

Okay, so I sold an item last week and the buyer left feedback today that said "Rare Item as described at an incredibly low price." And I think it IS a fairly rare item …but I have 30 more of them! I listed them at $9.99 each since I had a bunch and had absolutely no idea what they were worth. Should I jack up the price? Ha ha! I mean, I want to sell them, but I also want to make some money! That's why we're here, right?

I wouldn't feel comfortable listing it if I had literally absolutely no idea what it was worth. Do you indicate in your listing that you've got 30? Doing so might serve to drive the value down by removing the appearance of scarcity. If you've exhausted all avenues of research and can't find anything comparable, then I like the idea of running a well-timed auction to gauge interest and get a sense, if not a definitive indicator, of value.

The item is an album flat for the Twin Peaks soundtrack. Basically a “poster” that was sent to record stores as a promotional item for the release of a new album. I know Twin Peaks has kind of a cult following, but I don’t know how much of a market there is for this particular item. Normally, I would set the price really high, but for some reason I chickened out on these. I guess I figured that I have a bunch, so I’d see if there was even any interest. Apparently there is! I couldn’t find any Twin Peaks ones online (and not a lot of album flats period on ebay), so I just don’t know where to go with them. Most that I’ve seen sell have gone for $20 or less, unless they were signed. I actually have a bunch from different bands too (hundreds, actually …mainly from the mid to late 90s), and have sold a few already, so I think I will raise the price on all. I’m just not sure how high to go as I don’t know which are more valuable since I haven’t really seen many of the ones I have sell. I want them to keep selling! Maybe best offer is the answer?

If you do a quick search, you'll see that new episodes of Twin Peaks are coming back in 2016. And yes, this show has a huge dedicated cult following.

It sounds like you are being too quick to sell these. As the show's premiere gets closer, their value will only increase. This is a great example of how patience will make you a lot of money. Put a crazy high price with make offer. What's the hurry?

Wow …guess I need to work on my research A LOT! I was too consumed with looking for similar items and had no idea they were making new episodes! I'll be patient. 🙂 I'd better go through the rest of the box. The guy I got them from was a big David Lynch fan, so I'm sure there is probably more Twin Peaks stuff I haven't uncovered yet. Thanks for the great news!

I'm a eBay seller in Australia, but I had a problem today as a buyer. Actually I didn't HAVE a problem, I inadvertently CAUSED a problem for a nice seller from Texas.

She kindly accepted an offer I made, and although the eBay listing quoted a certain amount for shipping to Australia, when it came time to pay there was no shipping amount listed. So I sent a “request for total” and received an invoice with free shipping on it.

So I read through eBay’s info about the Global Shipping Program, thinking that maybe I'd get charged for the shipping later, and it said that for GPS items, the shipping amount won’t show up on a “request for total” invoice, but would show up later in the checkout process. So I went ahead and paid for the item.

You guessed it. Despite what the eBay info said, I was not charged for shipping. Now I know that’s not what the seller was expecting, and I didn’t want to take advantage of her, so I sent her the extra amount through PayPal.

I’m curious to know if this was just one of those weird eBay glitches or if I (or the seller) did something wrong.

– When I submitted my best offer to the seller, there was nowhere for me to request free shipping. I assumed eBay would leave it the same as in the listing. Can anyone tell me, when you are a seller and are responding to an offer, do you also have to specify the shipping amount somewhere? (Jay mentioned he got stung by something like this about a month ago.)

– Or did I do something wrong after my offer was accepted e.g. should I have NOT sent the seller a “request for total”? (I had to. EBay wouldn't let me pay.)

– Is it possible for a seller to turn Global Shipping off for just one listing? Can this be done after an item has been sold?

The seller was really friendly (and so was I), so I'm trying to figure out how to avoid a problem next time I buy from her. It wasn’t a hassle for me, and I tried to make it as hassle-free as I could for her, but she rang eBay customer service … and you know how that goes.

P.S. If you don't have answers, that's ok. I just thought I'd share this situation in case anyone came across it in the past or in the future.

I recently had a very strange sale. The buyer clicked on my item, paid for the item and I shipped within a couple hours of receiving notice.

Over 48 hours later she opens a complaint saying DO NOT SHIP. (too late) She claimed the item was not as described because she says she clicked on a completely different listing and I shipped the wrong item. She never denied making the purchase – she just claimed she bought something totally different (which wasn't in my store!!)

For example (item names have been changed)…..she clicked on a toaster but claims she purchased a bikini.

The word bikini was NOT in my listing or description……there were pictures of a TOASTER, descriptions of a TOASTER and nothing in the listing ever referred to a bikini!! I didn't even have a bikini for sale in my store.

And didn't she realize when she paid through PayPal? It said she was buying a toaster!

I contacted Ebay and thankfully they ruled in my favor. They also stopped her from leaving negative feedback, etc. I was not required to issue a refund even if she returned the item which was a pleasant surprise. Crazy shopper!

Hi, Em, here, still trying to comment on this blog! An eBay rep suggested a solution that I've used. I tell Canadian buyers to email me prior to buying. When they buy, they should not pay immediately, but request an invoice. At this time I have the option to change the shipping to US First Class or Priority and I send the invoice. This has worked fairly well.

This is what we're all trying to do. Seems like it's either GSP or not. There is no choice. But as Emmy says, f yu take off "pay immediately", then the buyer can request and invoice and kick it out of GSP. Seems very labor intensive.

what is the link to this listing, josh? have you checked it as if you were a buyer in Canada? i have the same thing checked, but GSP overrides it every time. when i selected in my overall shipping settings under My eBay, that i could specify countries to exclude from GSP, it just turns GSP off all together. it's weird.

I can tell you how i do my hats while you wait for other replies. In the beginning I would hand wash most of them if they were nasty. I got a small manicure nail brush and used some laundry detergent and scrubbed the inside sweat band and anything else that needed scrubbing. And i gently washed the rest of the hat in the sink. Then I just sit them out to air dry. If they have a cool front I may spray startch on them and insert a cardboard piece. I just cut up usps boxes for it. But ive gotten lazier now and I only wash hats that are really awesome and worth my time. Otherwise I just try to quickly wipe them off some with a wet cloth and let them fly. mainly for lint purposes. Oh yeah, quick tip though, watch the material. You will quickly learn what you don't need to get really wet. Like some hats have a cottony type substance under the sweat band and if you're not careful you'll ruin it. And some material don't take well to being scrubbed.

I don't know whom this was addressed to, but I personally wouldn't dream of selling something nasty to someone else, even if they do wash it themselves when they get it. How YOU do business is of course up to you. I really think it's a personal choice. Sorry, in advance, if this wasn't my q to answer!

I try to head off this problem before it happens by only buying clean hats. I've passed on many cool hats because they're too dirty, the bill is broken, the foam is disintegrating, etc. If I find a really dirty hat with a cool patch, I'll just remove the patch and sell that on its own. I have one of those hat shaped cage things that goes in the dishwasher, but I've never used it. Many old trucker hats have a cardboard bill that will fall apart in water. If I find a cool hat with a bit of soiling on the sweat band, I'll include that in the listing. Some people buy them just for display.

Ha! At an estate sale yesterday, I was picking through a big box of trucker hats. Most were dirty and/or had disintegrating foam, but I found four good ones. I also found a hat that was thrashed but had a cool patch. The first thing I did when I got home was remove the patch and toss the hat. Crazy coincidence!

How do you guys calculate shipping charges? I made the horrible mistake of guesstimating weight before I got my better scale. But even still I'm weighing it without packing and a box when i set the price. Do you just add another pound to it? I guess my biggest issue is I've shipped enough to know how much first class mail is and i know how much flat rate priority bubb envelopes are, but what about the stuff that doesn't fit into those categories. Like stuff I have to put in a box to ship. I would like to just go to usps and get a general idea but the prices are so different when you do it thru ebay esp for heavier items. I wish ebay had a estimator with their prices. Anyway, just curious on how you guys treat shipping charges. I got burned 10 bucks yesterday. Not good.

Do you use eBay calculated shipping or do you put a flat fee? I used to do a flat fee and got burned a few times, so I use calculated shipping now. I put in the weight of the item along with the various shipping services and it's automatically calculated. To ensure I don't get burned by the weight of packaging or a box, I also add a small amount to the handling – 99% of the time that covers it. The added fee depends on the size of the item – sometimes $5-$10+ if it's a large/oversized item or just $.50-$2 if it's a smaller item that is on the border of 13oz that would push it to priority with a box/packaging.

I have a customer who didn't pay. After three or four days i sent an invoice to say thanks for your order, trying to get them to pay. (Oh, that's right, i forgot to pay!) A day or two later, we get an email from ebay telling us they've opened a case against this buyer for non-payment. (I checked this customer's profile; they've been buying like crazy and paying right away! Their numbers went up over a dozen times while i've been waiting for payment!) Is this a new thing; where ebay starts the process before i do? I would've waited a few more days. The last time a customer didn't pay, around Christmas, ebay told me to wait another week before going forward. They're not consistant at all! (The customer paid this AM)

It's all automated. If you have on "unpaid item assistant" turned on, then eBay will send these messages to buyers who haven't paid. If it's not turned on, no messages are sent and you have to manually open an unpaid item case. Buyers have three days to pay before you or eBay can start sending these messages. I dont see how it could be inconsistent. Have you checked you settings?

Thanks, Jay. I have not checked the settings, but will. Maybe i hit a button somewhere that changed things? It was inconsistent in that it didn't automatically send a message to the Christmas buyer, but it did for this newest one. Actually, i kind of like that ebay takes care of this for me! I hate confrontation, even from afar.

My point is that there isn't some kind of evil eBay elf that is randomly choosing to send messages. Its all automated. So check your settings. I think "unpaid item assistant" is a global feature (on all items or none). Just google it or call eBay is you cant find it. Remember that you have total control of your store.

Before it kicks in, I have usually send a first and second request anyway.–Ebay's is always the third request.

Sometimes, the buyer pays after Ebay contacts them, but more often, they don't. Then, Ebay automatically has it on record that this might be a problem buyer.

PS. this has really only happened with new buyers–i've not had any older buyers have this problem–I think the newer buyers don't always understand they have completed a purchase–or they forget to check back on auctions to see if they won…..

Thanks! The length and width are easy, I was concerned more with the depth. Since the contents aren't rigid, the depth dimension isn't necessarily consistent. I guess err on the side of caution (thickness).

I saw some videos on YouTube regarding hat shipping, and there were such overkill. Hat in a bag, in a box, in a box… I just want to keep shipping charges as low as possible for buyers.

Trucker hats are fine for poly mailers. They're crushable. We've never had complaints.

You don't have to enter the dimensions if it's a standard sized item. You will get a sad surprise if you fail to enter dimensions when the item is light but oversized. The Post Office will send you a nice bill for the extra charge.

You'll learn what USPS says is "standard", meaning it can fit into their machine and automatically be sorted. Large packages must be hand sorted and has an extra fee. This is why adding dimensions is important so you dont get hit with the extra charge if it's oversized.

Grr. I'm sure this is on my end but for some reason when I reply or comment on my computer, it doesn't show up on my phone when I'm on the website. Frustrating. I don't know if the post exists at all now.

I discovered the issue Emmy. Blogger was making your comments as Spam and hiding the in a folder. I approved them all. Hopefully Blogger will now know you arent a robot. or at least youre a cool robot.

So here is a weird issue that has come up. I'd appreciate the input of others.

A buyer has opened a case in the resolution center, saying they have not received their item. The package was one of several that I dropped off this past Tuesday. The tracking for it says it was delivered to MY town on Tuesday. It was supposed to go to West Virginia. I checked the tracking for all of the other packages I dropped off that day, and 3 others have the same issue, showing delivered in MY town on the same day I dropped them off. They have not been returned to me by the post office. What is really weird is, one of the other 3 packages *did* make it to it's intended destination, because the buyer left feedback saying they loved it, great packaging, etc. I'm about to head out to the post office, and essentially say "wtf?!", but I'm not sure if I should alert the other buyers that the tracking is obviously wrong. Part of me is saying "Be proactive, it's good customer service", and another part of me is saying "Don't poke the sleeping bear". My gut feeling is these packages will eventually get to their destination, and this is some sort of tracking glitch with the post office. Thoughts?

This happened to me a couple times. In my case, the Postal employee mistakenly clicked the Delivered button rather than the acceptance button—I'm told this is (or was) pretty easy to do, because the buttons are right next to each other. It doesn't really mean anything…..your package has still been put in the delivery stream.

Check the Tracking Number on the USPS site….they should have the correct tracking. let us know what that shows.

The tracking on the USPS site does not show any additional tracking. It also shows "Delivered" to my town. I was able to get a print out of tracking for two of the other 3 transactions, showing it's still in transit. The last transaction is a FedEx Smartpost package. Neither FedEx nor the Post office can show any additional tracking for it. I updated the buyer for the case that was opened, so hopefully that will be enough to make everyone happy.

I had a case where the sorting center accidentally sent a First Class International package back to me instead of on to Canada. I gave it back to the mail carrier, and got feedback saying it was delivered just a few days later, but it never showed any more tracking info on the USPS website — just Delivered to my city. So it's definitely possible for stuff to get delivered in good time even though the tracking is completely borked.

I would only communicate with buyers who are opening cases or asking questions. In the five years and 10,000 items we've sold on eBay, USPS has only lost three items. Yes, the tracking can sometimes look really wacky….but items always get to where they need to go. I wouldnt worry and let USPS do their job.

The Midwest to the East Coast has had horrible weather the past six weeks. I can only imagine how difficult it is to move so many packages each day in these conditions.

That's the weird thing. There is no other status update for the items. They just show "Delivered" at my hometown post office. The postal clerk had to go into an internal system to see where they were in the postal stream, and gave me a print out showing where the items were. It's as if their interface has stopped displaying updates after it sees the "Delivered" status. It looks like I am going to have to get additional proof from the post office that the item was delivered to get the defect removed.

Em, here. Yay for the tip jar. Nice way to be able to thank Ryanne and Jay for their time and advice.

I've got a question for those more experienced. I heard from a long-time seller that she listed everything as a 3-day auction first with her desired price (nothing 99 cents) and after 3 days, she relisted them as Buy It Now. She did this because she believes eBay's algorithm likes auctions and that this method helps all of her listings show up better in searches.

So I've been using this method. It adds the additional step of relisting as a BIN listing. Is this initial auction listing a waste of time? When I do list several auctions, I do see my older BINs sell, but they might sell anyway. Thanks for any thoughts.

If you go into the eBay forums, people have all kind of wild schemes to fool the Cassini search engine. There was a rumor that if you erased all your items each month and listed them as completely new then you'd sell a whole bunch. None of these methods are ever backed up with real evidence.

If someone wants to spend their time jumping through hoops, that's cool. We'd rather spend our time listing new items. Quality items, good photos, clear descriptions will always win.

Em, here. Thanks for the feedback. I immediately stopped this extra task and am now listing directly as BIN. Yes, I heard about that crazy "take off all your items and then relist" theory. This one seemed slightly more plausible and I started the auctions at the price I wanted and set the BIN as the dream price. Your Knife Guy Expert advocated starting listings as 99 cents/7 day auctions and I did that for one week and learned an expensive lesson: never start an auction at 99 cents unless you'd be happy selling that item at 99 cents.

As for good photos, that is the bane of my existence. On foggy days I shoot as many pics outside as I can. My goal is "incrementally less crappy photos from the previous week."

Has anyone else noticed the change to hassle free returns? I could have sworn that I was paying for the original shipping cost on every hassle free return related to incorrect fit. That's why I started charging the 20% restocking fee in the first place.

The last several returns I've had, I've had the option to select "original shipping" when refunding. It's automatically unchecked, and I'm not going to check it just to be nice. I just had a buyer threaten to leave negative feedback if I didn't refund the shipping. I called eBay and she said I was in the right and do not have to refund any shipping.

I just think it's weird that all my returns have been pure profit for me.

If they are returning for fit, and they admit that, I don't believe that you get charged for any shipping, and I believe that it has always been that way–it is only when they claim not as described or broken, etc that you have to pay shipping both ways.

When I first started doing hassle free returns, I'm pretty sure I was paying the original shipping. The same box that is optional now, used to be auto checked when I issued refunds. Otherwise, I wouldn't have felt the need to charge the restocking fee.

As soon as you get the threat in writing your buyer has basically hung themself. That is totally against ebay policy. I report them right away and BLOCK them. AT that point it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to leave a feedback.

I won't say that I intentionally try to coax a threat out of anyone; but let's just say that being very professional and unemotional seems to do the trick quite nicely. It doesn't happen often – but it does happen.

I keep finding heavy glassware items with no stickers that I suspect are probably Blenko. I'm planning to do more research but I'm wondering if you all list sometimes with the title including a question mark like this: "BLENKO? Art Glass Candeholders…" and then explain in the description that there are no stickers. I don't want to misrepresent the item, but I want to have it turn up in a buyer's search. Thanks.

We don't like to put "?" in our titles because it feels unprofessional. If you've researched the piece enough, you can confidently call it what you think it is. Then in the description, just say that all your research points to Blenko even though the sticker is gone. That's all the seller did in the item you linked to.

Most of the Blenko I've found hasn't been marked; I usually only pick up pieces if they are striking/unusual (a blown fish sculpture, easier to authenticate and more valuable) rather than smaller/common (random crackle glass ivy bowl, tougher to authenticate, less valuable.)

shipping question. I have a 12x15x1 framed photograh that I want to ship to italy. I set the dimensions at 18x20x6 3lbs weight so we could use lots of wrapping materials and it would arrive safely. The global shipping program estimates the shipping at $78 dollars!!! plus $21 customs fees. I've been looking at other sellers and the rates are so much lower. I'm I over estimating? How can I lower the rate? Thanks everyone! Thanks Jay and Ryanne!

Charge what is costs! Those other sellers are probably selling themselves short. I've charged nearly $300 to ship a lamp shade and the buyer was happy to pay it. Put in the measurements and weight and charge whatever they quote.

+1. Do not worry about shipping costs. Just enter in the honest info. Overseas buyers are usually very sophisticated and know how much these fees are. If someone wants a delicate piece of art shipped half way around the wold, it's going to be expensive. The buyers who complain don't deserve what you're selling and not based in reality.

I'm thinking about adding a restocking fee and going to hassle free returns. Here is my proposed return policy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Return Policy 1) All return requests must come through eBay returns within 14 days of delivery.2) All returns will be assessed a 20% restocking fee.3) Refund is for item price only. Postage is non-refundable.4) If item was sent with Free Shipping, our actual postage is withheld from refund amount.

I used to have my own personalized return policy, but now it's pretty much irrelevant. If you accept returns, there is only one way to go about it, and that's eBay's return policy. You will not be allowed to dictate how much you will refund.

I agree with Bryan. If you choose to join Hassle Free Returns (which probably will be a requirement next Xmas), then you go by eBay's policy. the length of your return window and adding a restocking fee are the only options.

But I guess you currently can still make up your own return policy outside of Hassle Free Returns. This would be like the old days. We never refunded shipping when someone returned an item because they changed their mind. I'd be surprised if people didnt give you grief if you charged shipping on "free shipping" returns.

Even if you don't use hassle free returns, you will have refund a certain amount to be able to get a refund on your selling fees. eBay has basically made hassle free returns the only sensible way to go about returns.

I still have my account set to no returns and I've never had an issue. Actually 1 time I let someone return something. I don't want to encourage returns. And I've managed to have hundreds of feedback without any negatives. But if eBay does push for taking returns in the future I guess I'll be behind. I try though to not list junk and show every flaw if possible.

I'm in with Brian and Jay. I used to be super paranoid about getting all kinds of returns if I offered returns. Since I went with calculated shipping and hassle free returns everything is better. Sales increased for sure. On the occasional return the buyer pays shipping both ways, the item is re-listed and all is well.

My problem with hassle free is that if someone returns an item for "not as described" there appears to be no way to dispute the defect–that is what ebay's agent told me when I tried to dispute such a defect. I just had a return for size, but he claimed INAD and I was able to get that defect removed, I would rather have a chance to get a wrongful defect removed which is why I opted out of hassle free. Beyond that, ebay needs to really clarify their wonky defect rules, they are way too confusing.

By this time next year eBay won't even give you a choice, so it's probably best that you find a way to implement hassle free returns as soon as possible. If you are getting a ton of people selecting "not as described" for returns, then you're probably doing something wrong. We sell about 270 – 300 items a month and rarely ever have to deal with it, and we always win cases when they're opened.

All that being said I do agree that eBay needs to do a better job educating buyers.

Em, here. Some items are more open to "not as described" such as clothes. I've had defects for the shade of color and luckily the rep said that he and his girlfriend had just been arguing about colors so he removed the defect.

My biggest problem has been with those high-volume eBay sellers who buy items to flip — and I have no problem with flipping — but they know how the system works so they say "not as described" so they won't have to pay shipping. They always wait until the end or after 14-day period to return items when regular buyers will tell you right away that something doesn't fit or work for them. I've had defects removed, but it's time consuming.

We sell about 300 items a month and it's almost all clothing. I had two problems come up this week, and fixed both within 15 minutes. We get 6 – 12 returns a month (all hassle free, all "wrong size or doesn't fit"), and I might get 4 – 5 people a year that claim "not as described".

Even when someone claims not as described eBay has decided in my favor 100% of the time. That's not counting the times when it actually was my mistake.

If anyone is getting a ton of cases opened against them, then they should re-evaluate how they're listing. When we first started selling full time, we were running into quite a few problem buyers. After some reflecting, I realized that we were creating these problems by not being specific enough, and not being as brutally honest as we should have been about our condition descriptions. We were also buying a lot of junk that we should've passed over.

I only sell about 50 items a month, I get a return about once a month, so while it isn't a huge problem, as a smaller seller each defect hits me especially hard. Of the last 3 returns 2 were inappropriately claimed–the first as "broken" (on an oil painting on canvas board that was not broken, the buyer didn't like the colors when he got it, and is not an English speaker) and the second was "not as described" but the real issue was that he didn't read the very detailed measurements in the description–that defect was supposedly removed although it is still on my dashboard (I spent an hour getting it removed, so fingers crossed that I don't have to call again.) I have been selling since 1997 and over the years I have gotten very few returns, so I know what i am doing, but I think that ebay has created a negative selling environment for the seller–even the honest long time seller, IMO.

eBay is just an elaborate machine that we all need to figure out how to interface with. Everyone's situation is different, but we're all playing with the same hand.

I don't think they're creating a negative environment for sellers (although I used to believe they were). Surely Jay, Ryanne, and I are not all incredibly lucky for having a very positive experience with selling on eBay. We've just found a system that works well for us, and we've all discovered that embracing eBay's ever changing rules has been liberating and profitable.

None of us can change what eBay is going to do, so my position is that it's of no use to fight it. Worst case scenario, you loose your top rated seller status for a while. They're not going to suspend anyone's account who doesn't at least kind of deserve it.

The only thing that matters is that you can list stuff and make money. Everything else is a distraction.

Agreed. I wasn't selling on eBay in 1999. Maybe it was some kind of paradise where there were never any problems and people were just printing money. My guess is that older sellers just get nostalgic for the past.

We've been selling on eBay since 2008 and seen several waves of evolution. Some of it has been annoying, much of it has improved the system in my opinion. It makes sloppy sellers tighten up their game. eBay is no longer the only place to things so we all need to up our quality to compete.

I have some bad news. There will be more changes at eBay (and at every online selling platform). It's inevitable. But we just keep evolving along with it, making money, living life the we want.

Look, I am not nostalgic for the "old" ebay, LOL. I may be older than you Jay but I am not some old fogey yelling "hey you kids get off of my lawn." The changes I object to is this automatic "defect" business even when the seller is immediately responsive to their buyer–I also don't feel that I should have to spend an hour on the phone getting an unfair defect removed. I have other quibbles with the changes that the Vulture Capitalist in charge has made to the way the site handles it's small sellers, but it is what it is and I deal with it–this doesn't mean that I have to love it, but I making money so….

We're not trying to give you a hard time, we just know how exhausting it can be to let eBay get under your skin. Jay has spoken of sleepless nights and stressful days worrying over different negative situations related to eBay, and I've been through the same thing. Trust me, I'm not in love with everything eBay does, but it's no use letting yourself be bothered with it.

Whether it's eBay not allowing sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers, the initial roll out of the defect system and it's many changes, forcing longer returns, or hassle free returns becoming mandatory, there is always going to be growing pains associated with being a seller on eBay.

There's always going to be an over arching culture of greed at the top of the corporate structure running eBay, because it's a business. I wish nicer people would gravitate towards high ranking corporate job positions, but it's kind of like politics. The type of people these positions of power attract are 1,000 times more driven and brutal than most, and quite often sociopaths.

All we can do is focus on how to profit from our relationship with eBay. It's up to us to figure out how to make the situation as enjoyable as possible, because eBay won't do it for us. If everyone stays mad at eBay we end up with an ecommerce bytes tabloid headline, "Is ebay Trying to Ruin Your Life?"

Hi,I feel like I've asked this in one form or another before but maybe someone can offer me a little bit more insight. For those of you that primarily sell clothing and do well- any advice? I have been selling on Ebay for 4 years now and full time (if you can call it that) for the past year since I lost my other job. I still supplement my income with freelance writing and social media management or I don't think I'd be able to support myself with Ebay alone. I normally have approximately 350 items in my store, but have now been trying to bulk up and break 400 — and hopefully eventually reach 500.In past years I would average approximately $2000 a month gross, but haven't had numbers that strong in a long time. This month has been particularly bad, with a gross of $600 so far. I'd like to at least average $500 a week. Currently, I've sold one pair of shoes for $57 and another pair for $25 where I've had to open an unpaid item case. When I can find items other than clothing and shoes, I do list them but unfortunately I don't find anything as readily available as clothing. I also know my designer and high end brands as well as some vintage brands.Are my sales seemingly much less than the average that is posted (even amongst sellers with similar sized stores) because I'm no longer a top rated seller? I lost the status several months ago due to being hit with several "not as described" cases where Ebay unfortunately sided with the buyer? Because I usually sell 3-4 items a week at most, I haven't been able to dilute the defects as quickly as I would like.My store name is: Suzyseye. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

All you can do is list more. If you want it to be full time, then you should put in overtime hours until it's bringing in what you need. Our store is doing great and I still put in at least 50 hours a week, sometimes nearly 80 hours. If you're working that many hours on eBay, you are guaranteed to quickly grow your business.

Being TRS does help a little, but I wouldn't blame it for the performance of your store.

Personally, I think 1000 items is a good goal to have for financial independence.

Your pictures look good, but you might consider switching to a more neutral background. A plain white background is usually the easiest setup for professional looking pictures. You also might consider buying a plastic shoe form for sandals and shoes that you are currently modeling. I know it's stupid, but a lot of buyers do not like seeing sandals being worn. The plastic forms are super cheap, and they look great in pics.

Hey Suzy–You are asking some very fundamental questions that might be difficult to easily answer. Like: how do you make more money? How do you find better items to scavenge?

When you say in past years, you always make $2k gross a month. Do you mean every month of the year? Or do you have slow and busy periods like we do? Our store is also slow right now compared to Oct-Dec, which makes sense.

Lots of factors can come into play. Its snowing in half the country, so people wont be buying as many summer/spring clothes/shoes right now. Do you sell a lot of winter stuff?

Where are you buying your items? if you are staying with Goodwill and Salvation Army, it'd be a good idea to expand your reach. Items that sell for $30+ are out there.

And we've never found that losing our Top Rated Seller Status slows our sales down. It's nice but not necessary IMHO.

And like Bryan just said, if eBay is now your fulltime job, you should be adding at least 50 items a week to your inventory even if you're working alone. That's 10 new items listed a day. Totally doable if you are putting in 8 hours a day.

Thanks for the advice Bryan & Jay. I'm going to attempt to do at least 50 items a week and will report back with my progress. Will finally be posting my numbers tomorrow as well. (hoping for a big surge in sales before then haha). I've been religiously listening to your podcast for 2 years now!-Suzy

Hi Suzy, I quickly looked through your store and you have a lot of high priced items. Presumably you're used to waiting some time for those to sell?

Can't comment on your clothing but I tried to compare an item of yours that also sells in the UK and saw your Le Creuset Dutch Oven. I think your sizing is incorrect at 36" in diameter. I presume you mean circumference (or do you mean cms?) but Le Creuset do not measure in circumference. That leads me to wonder how you know it's 8 quart.

Amazon are currently selling a brand new 7.1/4 quart Le Creuset Dutch Oven at $307 with free shipping in red. I can't see how much shipping yours is for within the USA. On ebay, a used 8qt sold for $172 at the highest although it looks the same as yours it was described as a French Oven. In the UK, French and Dutch ovens are interchangeable as a description and they are also called Crockpots.

If I was a buyer, I'd be looking at Amazon for the new price and cross referencing with the Ebay new prices. Seeing how much they are new I'd then be looking for a used one. I'd be expecting half the price for very lightly used. Perhaps higher for a particular colour. I like a good description and look at the buyer's feedback and postage costs.

I don't know how you researched your price but I'd suggest reducing it and getting the description, particularly sizing, more complete. The usual advice with more listing has already been given of course!!

I am currently out in CA, taking care of my mom – and I couldn't believe how much higher prices were in the thrift stores out here==I was really discouraged the first week, because the inventory I was used to buying was really high priced out here.

One day, I walked into the store, got a cart and just stood there. I told myself that there were pockets in this store that no one was going for–and they would be cheaper than they were back home. I just surveyed the store and started thinking what would be easy to store while I was here–what was small and easily shippable, and what would be cheap! I just opened myself up to the possibility of trying new things out.

Everyone was crowding the electronics, dishes, collectables. No one was in the fabric section, the eyeglasses, the watches, or the coats (it is hot out here this year) .

Since I got here, I sold 2 saris ($23ea), a ralph lauren duvet cover (for almost $70!!!), a Hawaiian shower curtain ($30), some Birkenstock Sandals ($32) a couple of finished embroideries) military shirts and coats (sold 5 in the last 2 months (around $200)–and several other things I never had listed before.

Estate sales and garage sales also offer different possibilities–I was really locked in to a certain kind of inventory before, but with a little research, found a number of items selling cheaply here that are way more expensive back home.

I want to wallpaper this comment to the front page. 1000% correct. We've traveled and scavenged all over the US and always find cool stuff to buy at good prices. IAs you say, we just go to each place with an open mind. If some items are high priced, we skip those and look for other items. If one store is high priced, we skip that store and find other places to scavenge.

Suzy, I'm also curious to know why you were consistently grossing $2K/month before and aren't anymore. What has changed on your part? Are you listing the same amount of items? The same type of item? What could have changed that you can no longer gross that same amount? Do tell.

Some of these parts are becoming rare so buying them up and flipping them setting the price that i want has become easy as the guys looking for them cannot find them…. the part was a tank….some people are reproducing them for 800.00 buy it now…. i decided that i could double the price as it is original…. and it worked

Not only did i spend 800 on that part….i bought it on ebay and resold it there too… i have been flipping some of these parts on ebay…..though im noticing that the hard to find USA made parts from the 1930s and 1940s is doubling in some cases trippling in price….its a no brainer….i wish i lived in the east coast and the mid west because some of these bikes with all the bells and whistles are in peoples, barns, attics, garages, rafters, basements…… i am a member of a bicycke website for classic bike collectors and these bikes are still turning up….mostly selling at super low rates as the children of the owners do not know the value of these bikes….small forunes can be made for those people armed with a little knowledge

I actually wait on people letting them go cheap on ebay and i also source for deals from people on a specific classic bicycle website in the for sale section and i also look in local craigslist….its very competetive for some stuff but deals will be found…. been at the bike hobby since i was in my early 20s…. but im learning more and more about mid century items, ….but really im waiting like Ryanne to find a cheap oil painting i can sell for hundreds of thousands if not millions to solve lots of problems J. 😉

I sold the frame set going to this tank yesterday to an old ebay buddy who was happy to pay 1100.00 shipped…. i got the frame set in a package deal so i made a couple hundred and saved in ebay fees….it was a fast deal…but i know ill regret it down the road….it may climb up in price down the line…this was the same frame set i called you guys about in the hotline….the guy from Australia never got back to me. If anyone you guys watch American Pickers Mike recently found a girls 1930s Elgin Skylark….he paid 700.00 for it and it was a mess but like he said it can be brought back… ill see if i can post a link to the episode here….

Forward to 27:00 and then to 38:00 for the details of the ladies bicycle…. 1930s art deco bikes are HOT ladies and gents…. schwinn brand was more popular but Elgin 1930s with the name Bluebird and skylark were the top of the line and the boys version can sell upwards of 10,000 if found in original condtion

Hi Emmy,I'd suggest reading through the weekly "What's selling in my store this week" as a starting point. You'll easily be able to pick up who's selling full time and what's been selling well. The next one is tomorrow

Yeah, look at the numbers people post on the next podcast. I think there are more part-time sellers here than full-time. But seems many wonders how to make the jump to fulltime in case they get laid off…or as a way to ease into retirement.

Another q for y'all, Does anyone sell amazon FBA too? I've always wanted to try it even though the profit margins suck. There's certain categories I want to get in on but you have to be a pro merchant which is a 40 dollar monthly fee and then you have to apply for approval in each category. And that want receipts and all kinds of verification. I keep seeing top eBay sellers jump ship and just do FBA. I want to do both in the long term. I only want in on grocery and health care on amazon although someone said u can sell those things well on eBay. Ok bye.

– Who do you send your larger and heavier items through? Once over 5kg and outside of the flat rate parcel or satchels I find Australia Post quiet expensive.

– What is the least expensive way to send books? Currently I am sending them sandwiched between cardboard and placed inside either the 500g satchel, and where weight dictates the next size up, the 3kg satchel. Sending one book is currently costing me between $7.15 – $11.50. This is a significant cost that I feel really effects my sales.

A couple in South Carolina (article ays they sell vintage clothing online) buys a West Point sweater at Goodwill for $0.58 (weighed for price); they discover a tag inside that says "Lombardi"; they watch a documentary showing Vince Lombardi wearing the sweater; they get it authenticated by the clothing manufacturers, Hall of Fame, and auction house; sell it at auction in NYC for $36,000 (plus 19% buyers premium). Goodwill is also making out because the auction house is donating the $4,000 commission they received on the item to the store.

Wow so many things could have gone wrong, for example, did the couple ever list the sweater for sale? I am old and would have recognized the Lombardi name, but this couple was just plain lucky to see that doc on TV. It is amazing that the auction house was apparently able to trace the original donator (who got the auction house to donate their fee!)

I sell on Etsy a little bit and can confirm that you can't set up your own sale directly on the site. There are quite a few 3rd party apps that let you set up sales, create treasuries, send info to buyers, auto renew listings, etc, but nothing direct.

Haven’t posted my numbers in a while and figured I would go ahead and do a catchup with a few weeks this time. Great week considering literally no effort put into the store. Busy working my other handyman job and making good money doing that. Thankfully, everything is pre-packaged prior to listing. So all I have to do is print the labels when things sell.

Haven’t posted my numbers in a while. My average numbers have been really good and I am grateful to God for it. This week was a great week – especially considering not much put into it overall. Listed some great items and some sold very quickly. Did not list many items. Sold the MERLIN bike for $999 but the buyer was making ridiculous demands (no tax + reduced shipping way below our costs); so we used cancellation, block, report and silence protocol. Good part is: it is now already packaged and ready to ship when it is sold again. Finding the stuff faster than it can be listed. Starting to look like an episode of “HOARDERS” around here. Need to focus on listing. Got my name & avatar fixed so people can correctly identify me on the blog!

Not a bad week – but not much put into it overall. Bought great items and some sold very quickly. Did not list many items. 20% off sale generated some sales. Taking some best offers. Starting to get normal average of international sales since signing up for GSP over a month ago. Need to focus on listing.

Mesa Boogie @ the Goodwill. Apparently nobody knew what it was because the badge was missing. Dynaco @ the Goodwill. Again, an unknown to most folks. Jensens @ a local garage sale. M&K was at a hole in the wall thrift store I recently found. I have a "kit" I carry around that has a multimeter, several different batteries and multiple plug & jack devices for hooking up and checking the speakers before I buy. I also have a sheet with all the common date and manufacturer codes I carry around in the kit. Has helped out a lot to avoid DOA items.

BTW – THANKS AGAIN STEVE. I just found another one of those 13" Toshiba TV – VCR combos that I learned about from you.

Yes Steven..local Goodwill for the Mesa cab and Dynaco. The Mesa was missing the badge so I guess it flew under the radar. Tubes are hidden inside the Dynaco…once again flew under the radar. The other stuff is mostly garage sale or mom & pop thrift. I have a kit with multitester and some rca, 1/2" jacks & plugs + a date/source code chart, couple of different batteries. It's all in a "murse" that I carry into the stores pretty consistently. That way I can avoid DOA stuff.

I'm not sure what's going on with the posts on the blog – I already posted this answer and it "disappeared" somehow….and where the heck is the "home" button that used to be in the top left of the page.

Thank you so much! This is amazing! We don't have cable/similar, so I had no idea this existed and am utterly thrilled you made me aware of it! Thanks again! I'm starting with the Chagall episode. Just perfect. Thank you!

Has anyone had experience with an item being returned that was shipped through the Global Shipping Program? The buyer had the wrong address in ebay since he had recently moved so we was returned but we have no idea where it is. Does it go back to the GSP location? I checked at my post office and it's not there. I know I'm not on the hook for it but I just want it found so it can get sent back to the buyer.

hey robbieyou are actually off the hook, so to speak. if you got it to KY with no issues, you don't have to worry about it. the buyer should call ebay and ask for the tracking back to the KY warehouse and if it can get re-delivered to the new address. but it was the buyer's responsibility to have the correct shipping address in the first place.

I really don't know y I'm bringing this up again since I've never really cared or felt affected but I was watching a YouTube video and a commenter said his friend was a eBay programmer for years and that eBay uses a snowball algorithm which basically is the more you list, sell, take offers, etc.. (basically staying active) the higher your stuff will appear in the results. I never cared how they do it since my titles usually put me up high but I guess if my title was identical to someone's its good info to know. I care more about how ppl search and I do fear sometimes my stuff may get lost if its a common brand item. For that reason alone I'm still doing 30 day listings so at least once a month I'll be listed at the top for ending soonest. Sorry for the long ramble.

You are correct Emmy. But I think of how I shop on eBay. I search for "best match" or "price: lowest to highest". Doesnt matter to me when the item is ending. What's more important is if the item is relevant or the price I want to pay.

I think 'time ending soonest" was more useful when eBay had only auctions and buyers could purchase without waiting for a long auction.

But if your listing system works for you, don't let anyone tell you different. Just make sure the extra work you're doing is actually paying off.

I believe GTC means it relists itself every month and that has the same effect as if you relisted it. Its just done automatically. And it is never off the market. You haven't fooled Cassini into thinking it was just listed for the first time by doing 30 day listings.

I'm not trying to fool it. My item actually ends so its no longer on eBay. Then I have to relist it which puts it back at day one. Just as a 7 day auction would work with an item that didnt sell. But to see if GTC actually goes thru that cycle too I'll do a test and see where my item lands on day 30 with less than hour left. I also want to know if I set a 3 day handling time but ship within 1 every time, would it recognize that for power seller or only go by the setting.

It's Sunday night and I am excitedly anticipating: I cannot wait to hear Jay and Ryanne's voices in their next podcast. I have missed them this week; the weather here on the East Coast is so cold and snowy but listening to their Sunday podcasts always cheers me up.

I agree. I've been snowed in with nothing to do but watch TV and YouTube and I went astray listening to videos by other ppl who taught me good stuff and then later they jumped ship and talked about how eBay is horrible. I even saw s scavenger life comment back to one of them. I just kept thinking as they were whining that they must just suck at selling if "nothing" is selling. So yeah, im ready for a refreshing new Ryanne and Jay video.

Hi Guys–first time to post. Love the podcast and getting a glimpse in the rough and tumble of full time eBay badasses.

I have opened a store (along with my Sister, who has a keen nose for finding "unique one-of-a-kind" items, as Jay likes to say and I'm getting a bit better at it). We both have full time jobs that we're totally fine with so eBay is just a hobby.

We have about 175 items in the store and sell 3-5 items a week. Its totally thrilling when someone something sells–does that ever go away?

Anyhoo, I had a buyer send a note complaining about a shipment (a salt and pepper shaker missing a stopper) and I calmly went into Jay's "corporate policy" script and let him know that I'd be happy to refund his purchase price ($12) if he returned it (luckily I had included a note about the missing stopper in the description). We'll see what happens–hopefully no negativity. But it also goes to show–the cheapest buyers are the most difficult.

Keep up the awesome dichotomy of a) fighting "the man" and b) being total merchant capitalists. You guys rock!

I'm talking too much. But I enjoy the convos so here's another one. how do you guys handle best offers? Several times now I have received an offer for various things and I countered. I never heard anything back. Should then I start wondering if I should have just taken their offer. It's tricky because I don't really know the value of the things I'm selling really because I don't see any others on eBay so I just make up a price. So I may be pricing too high. I'm starting to feel a little greedy because I know I got these items for just a buck or two and maybe I should just take the $10 profit. It would be different if I was receiving various offers for the same item because then I could get a good idea but they're all different items.

I can only think of a handful of items that we've haven't been able to find online. If you don;t see it on eBay, search on google. You'd have to give us an eaxample of an item you can"t find anywhere. Can you share a link to one of these items?

Because we know the value of our items, we don't have any issues passing on low offers. Here's a podcast we did on Best Offer Tactics.

Going a bit more public with my eCommerce presence. Looking forward to my life allowing more interaction here. My tip for the day is "socialize." I send messages to sellers of auction items (but have no buy it now options) or to those who have higher buy it now options than I'm willing to pay. I need to keep track of the percentage of items that I'm able to get before anyone bids on the auction or for a lower buy it now price than originally listed. I'm guessing conservatively it is at least 25%. I buy items on eBay and Craigslist that I can flip on Amazon or eBay. I missed 3 items on Craigslist last night but followed up with the seller that I purchase – books, games, clothes, shoes, small appliances, etc. They have invited me over to check out other stuff they'd like to get rid of. YES, you have to be VERY careful doing this. This seller lives in a very nice neighborhood about 2 miles from my house. They were selling the items I missed at extremely low prices, so I'm hoping for a nice haul. Practical application: at yard sales – ask the folks if they have any (put your desired items here) that they might wish to sell. Social sourcing might bring in more "hidden" treasures.